Almost six months of organizing and preparations, all leading to ten hot days in July. What was happening here? Well, the biggest annual event organized by BEST Prague, an academic course for foreign students! Between 18th and 27th of July 2015 we organized the fourth course of this kind since our organization has been founded at CTU. And the participants from all over the Europe can confirm that it has beaten all the expectations!
Azure sky with a big ‘A’
The main content of every course is an academic part, which is also reflected in the name of the course. This part usually takes place at the university. Nevertheless, we have chosen a different approach this year. We contacted a branch of Microsoft Corporation in Prague and we agreed on a short series of lessons on a cloud technology Microsoft Azure – more specifically about programming of applications without any programming knowledge. Thanks to the attractive topic and also an interesting locality, the course made it all the way to the top when it came to the number of applications. In total, we had 249 of them!
From all the applicants only 24 lucky ones had the opportunity to meet here in Prague. At the facility of BB Center at Budějovická they tested their ability to work in teams, their agility, endurance and presentation skills. Within a week they had to create an application on their own and present it afterwards in front of the jury. All of them made it, but it required a lot of hard work! After the presentations they received a certificate on completing the course and a good felling on top from all the new experience. But the academic part was not the only one, that is for sure…
No time to rest during the course
BEST courses are not only about learning, but also about fun and meeting other cultures! That is why we prepared for the students an extensive schedule for every minute of those ten days, in which they discovered not only the beauties of Prague, but also other parts of the Czech Republic. A few participants went with us on a trip to the castle of Karlštejn already at the arrival day, during their stay in Prague they went also to the localities of Vyšehrad or Petřín. The final weekend we organized a trip into the nature – to the countryside next to the village of Říčany.
The schedule itself was made of lots of interesting events, including a City Rally in the center of Prague, International Evening with all the different food and drinks from foreign countries, an adventurous detective game at night or Reverse Olympics. The participants were definitely not bored and they even took care of organizing the last evening. And nobody wanted to leave at the end!
Get to know BEST by yourself
Has this article caught your attention and would you want to experience something similar, too? Then follow the website best.eu.org and our Facebook page. When the applications will open for the next season, try to write a motivational letter (or a few of them). Maybe the odds will be in your favor, somewhere in Europe you will meet a group of people similar to the one that participated at our course and you will experience also a similar week full of adventures.
If you are more interested in helping us organizing the course right here in Prague or with other events we organize during the year, send an e-mail to hr@bestprague.cz and we will contact you!